The Ravens are scouring the market for help at inside linebacker, and one familiar name has moved right onto their radar: Steelers linebacker Malik Harrison.
According to league sources, Baltimore is keeping a very close eye on the former Day 2 pick, who has become something of a roster bubble player in Pittsburgh. The appeal is obvious. Harrison already knows Jesse Minter’s defense from his time in Baltimore, and the Ravens are looking for sturdier veteran depth behind Roquan Smith.
That need has only grown more urgent. Smith is coming off two straight poor seasons, and Baltimore is treating the position like a fragile spot right now.
Young linebackers such as Trenton Simpson are not even seeing the field in exhibition games, which says plenty about how seriously the Ravens are approaching the depth chart. They still have two more preseason games to navigate.
The injury and attrition concerns are already piling up. Starting middle linebacker Jay Higgins suffered a concussion in Saturday’s preseason opener, which pushed Dominic DeLuca into 27 snaps, the most of any Baltimore linebacker.
DeLuca is a former Penn State walk-on who entered the league as an undrafted free agent. Teddye Buchanan, meanwhile, flashed as a rookie but is still working back from season-ending knee surgery after being placed on the PUP list.
Harrison’s path makes him an understandable target. Baltimore drafted him in the third round in 2020, and while he never turned into the impact starter Eric DeCosta hoped for, he did become a reliable special teams contributor and averaged 240 snaps a season at linebacker over his first five years.
The idea in Baltimore was to pair him with Smith in the middle. Instead, he spent last season mainly as a WILL linebacker for Pittsburgh after signing a two-year, $10M deal.
He’s set to make $4.75M this season, and the Steelers’ linebacker room is crowded in front of him. Pittsburgh has committed big money to three legitimate pass rushers and invested draft capital at the position in recent years.
There’s also a separate layer to Baltimore’s roster picture. The Ravens are overloaded at cornerback, and there’s a strong sense around the NFL that they could move one if the group stays healthy through the preseason. That makes the idea of a defensive trade even more realistic, even if a deal with a division rival would be unusual.
Steelers corner Joey Porter Jr. is currently in a “hold-in,” and former Ravens first-round pick Patrick Queen sits ahead of Harrison on Pittsburgh’s depth chart. Rivalry aside, both teams tend to value defensive players in similar ways.
For Baltimore, the bottom line is simple: adding an inside linebacker with real NFL experience remains a priority for the pro personnel department between now and Week 1.
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